Every year during Holy Week, the Easter Festival of Sacred Music prepares the Tenebrae - chants of lamentations and responsories performed in the dark on the eve of the feast. After ensemble performances of Zelenka's and Gesualdo's chants, Ensemble Versus have decided to present a choral repertoire of Czech origin for this year's edition. Another change is that the Tenebrae have moved from the church setting to Brno's three underground water reservoirs at Žlutý Kopec, which each evening will host three concerts lasting about forty minutes. Viewers can choose the hour that suits them best. This review looks at the first of the Tenebrae held on Holy Wednesday, 16 April, in reservoir no. 2.
Wednesday's performance of the chorales was subtitled via, or way, and was based on repertoire from 15th-century Czech sources (e.g. the Jistebnice Canon). The schola presented the story of the Passion from Christ's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane through his arrest and subsequent crucifixion in the form of lamentations (Listen to the Words or In the Day of the Lord's Wrath), in which solo voices alternated with choral singing, as well as in the form of responsories, hymns and antiphons. The first soloists emerged from behind the brick columns and gradually left again. Eventually, however, they merged to form a single choir. The figure of Jesus Christ or the narrator in the lamentation dialogues was portrayed by ensemble leader Vladimír Maňas, who functioned as a kind of guide for the evening (and for the audience). The clean, humble, vocally colourful and interpretively learned staging of Ensemble Versus was enhanced by some small scenic details. For example, in the words "Watch and pray, says our Lord Christ Jesus," an imaginary figure of Jesus sat on a bench and prayed. In the dialogue In the Day of the Lord's Wrath, where the choir sings "Then two women speakers shall come forth..." the chant was interspersed between the narrator and two female figures representing Justice and Mercy. In this case, the clear and powerful voices of both singers stood out. The choir also played imaginatively with contrasts such as the alternation of female and male voices (such as in the antiphon Media vita).
Ensemble Versus invited director Kateřina Křivánková, with whom it has been working for several years not only on concerts (such as the The Way of the Cross) and who did an excellent job of directing the evening, which also got the audience involved. As the subtitle of the concert suggests, during those few dozen minutes the audience and the performers went on a journey together, recalling the last days and feelings of Jesus Christ. The simple, white costumes, set design, lighting effects and visual projection were the work of artists Tereza Jančová and Anna Laborová, who took full advantage of the unique space of the water reservoir. The lights were based on a warm yellow to orange-red shining through the vaults of the water reservoir. However, Anna Laborová also played with the shadows and dark walls, on which a video was projected in certain parts. It depicted abstract shapes and also fragments of the verses being sung.
With its symbolic, artistic and theatrical elements, this new concept of the Tenebrae has gone beyond the traditional concert concept while losing none of its spiritual essence, for which all the performers and organisers deserve praise.
Programme:
The Passion Story in Czech Choral Songs of the 15th Century
Mixed schola:
Magdalena Dostálová, Ludmila Loucká, Františka Nevrlá, Dominika Nováková, Petra Švandová, Lenka Zlámalová/Pavel Blažek, Patrik Buchta, Jakub Lédl, Vladimír Maňas (staging), Ondřej Múčka, Dominik Trnka.
Wednesday, 16 April 2025 at 8:15 p.m., Water Reservoirs under Žlutý Kopec
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